The whole shooting match [1880]

[Laurence Horn]

On Oct 7, 2013, at 11:53 AM, David A. Daniel wrote:

> Wait! What about the whole enchilada?
> DAD

Not to mention the whole megillah.

LH
>
>
>
> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill CIV (US)" <william.d.mullins18.civ at MAIL.MIL>
> Subject:      Re: The whole shooting match [1880]
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---
>
> Among Whole Nine Yards, Whole Shooting Match, and Whole Ball of Wax,
> you've covered the whole shebang.
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
>> Behalf Of Bonnie Taylor-Blake
>> Sent: Sunday, October 06, 2013 10:54 PM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: The whole shooting match [1880]
>>
>
>> Poster:       Bonnie Taylor-Blake <b.taylorblake at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      The whole shooting match [1880]
>>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> --------
>>
>> Sorry, I've probably just missed earlier posts (or discussions
>> elsewhere) devoted to early examples of "the whole shooting match,"
>> but here are at least a few that predate that offered by the OED
>> (1896).  I'm assuming that the 1880 usage isn't just a case of "the
>> whole shooting match" = fireworks display (in the sense that fireworks
>> are shot), but I could be wrong about that.  In any event, I at least
>> feel that the 1882 usage as an indicator of an idiom is pretty solid.
>>
>> -- Bonnie
>>
>> -----------------------------
>>
>> The reservoir is recommended as the boss place to have the display of
>> fire works on the 4th of July.  The level of the ground there is
> fifty-
>> two feet higher than the "down town" part of the city, and parties
>> could sit right at their south windows and take in the whole shooting
>> match.  [From "Happenings," The Daily News (Fort Wayne, Indiana), 18
>> May 1880, p. 1, col. 4, via newspapers.com.]
>>
>> If when everything goes wrong and you are tempted to sell out the
> whole
>> "shooting match," it is time nature was assisted, and you will find no
>> better invigorator than the renowned Pacific Liver Pills.
>> Even the name signifies calm, hence they calm all troubles that the
>> human flesh is heir to.  [Logansport (Indiana) Daily Journal, 29
>> December 1881, p. 9, col. 3, via newspaperarchive.com.  This
>> advertisement was published in a lot of newspapers in the 1880s.]
>>
>> The elections last Tuesday indicate that the people are as tired of
> the
>> republican party as they are of the bosses.  The whole shooting match
>> must go.  [The Fort Wayne (Indiana) Daily Sentinel, 13 November 1882,
>> p. 2, col. 2, via newspaperarchive.com.]
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
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>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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